I usually shrug it off when a newspaper quotes me in a way that I think does not effectively represent my statements, but some of the comments attributed to me in an article in today’s paper have only a vague resemblance to what I remember saying to a reporter over the telephone.
The article describes my answer to the question “Oak Ridge could lose workers when cleanup work at the former K-25 site is completed, possibly in 2010. What can the city do to help keep the employment base relatively stable?” as follows:
Candidate Ellen Smith said cleanup work at the K-25 site, which includes building demolitions, fits into plans to reindustrialize the property.
“Clearly we do need to continue the environmental management program,†Smith said.
But there are more serious problems at the Y-12 National Security Complex and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, she said. The sites have not been added to DOE’s cleanup plan, but doing so would help keep cleanup workers employed, reduce contractor costs and limit the potential for future environmental risks, Smith said.
Oak Ridge officials could continue encouraging federal officials to add Y-12 and ORNL facilities to DOE’s environmental management program, she said.
What I remember saying was roughly as follows:
Employment by Bechtel Jacobs and its subcontractors is already declining and is scheduled to continue to decline under current program plans for the Department of Energy (DOE) Environmental Management (i.e., cleanup) program.
Projects at the K-25 site, particularly decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) of facilities, received high priority in the current Environmental Management program because of the priority that was placed on K-25 reindustrialization, but similar D&D needs at the Y-12 and ORNL sites are not currently in the Environmental Management program’s scope. (I note that the article suggests that there has been no cleanup at Y-12 and ORNL, but that’s not true. Substantial progress has been made in addressing contaminated sites at both locations.)
It has been proposed that those Y-12 and ORNL projects should be added to the Environmental Management program’s scope. Funding those projects would help retain local jobs for the specialized contractor workforce that has been supporting the DOE cleanup program. At the same time, these measures would help reduce future environmental risks and would reduce costs (for monitoring, maintenance, and security) that currently must be absorbed in the budgets for ongoing operations of Y-12 and ORNL.
In response to the reporter’s follow-up question on what the City of Oak Ridge could do about this situation, I did say that Oak Ridge officials could continue encouraging federal officials to add Y-12 and ORNL facilities to DOE’s Environmental Management program.
I’m not directly involved with what happens to those buildings, but I have heard Nuclear Energy is Rep. Zach Wamp’s push of new employment here. I usually do not agree with Mr. Wamp, but I applaud this active stance providing more American research in this field.
I think of the many vessels exploring Earth and protecting our freedom. Just one reactor from these ships would remove City of Oak Ridge from the TVA electrical grid. Is it possible that the area, which produced the first A-Bomb, will build a reactor for the energy demand of the same area?
If that were the case, I would lean to the side that supports these D&D employees. The start-up costs of a pro-active resource like this to progress our government would be too much to establish again in any area of the United States, and the public to know about it. I urge these people to continue their work to open up a new era for an area that many thought was closed.
For what it’s worth, the Oak Ridger published a clarification on Friday: http://www.oakridger.com/stories/060107/new_174087151.shtml